Camera

ABSTRACT

A film take-up spool driving member slidable mounted on a shaft in a film winding mechanism in photographic camera in which loading a film cartridge into the camera first slides the member out of the path of the being loaded cartridge and then permits it to be spring driven into engagement with the film take-up spool in the cartridge when the same is fully seated in the camera.

United States Patent Riogolini Mar. 14, 1972 CAMERA 2,890,635 6/1959Owens ..242/7l 3,106,142 10/1963 Peterson ..242/71 [72] Invent Rmgmn"Bmklyn' 3,l38,08l 6/l964 Nerwin ..242/71.2 [73] Assignee: WhitehouseProducts, Inc., Brooklyn, NY. Dec. Primary Examiner-Stanley GilrcathAssistant Examiner-Gregory A. Walters PP 784,069 Attorney-John A. HowsonRelated U.S. Application Data 57] ABSTRACT 62 D"' fS .N.458,593,M 25,19,P. 1 3 1:22: er 0 ay 65 at No A film take-up spool driving membershdable mounted on a v shaft in a film winding mechanism in photographiccamera in 521 U.S. c1 ..242/71.3 which loading a film cartridge cameraslides 51 1111.01. ...G03b 1/10 memher out of the P of the being loadedeertridse and then [58] Field of Search ..242/195, 196, 197, 198,71,permits it to be p g driven into engagement with the film 242/7l.l, 7L2,71.3, 71.4, 71.5, 71.6, 68.3 take-up spool in the cartridge when thesame is fully seated in the camera.

[56] References Cited 4 Claims, 17 Drawing Figures UNITED STATES PATENTS2,126,299 8/1938 Wittel et al. ..242/l97 G4 70 111" 7/ 86 I 6 1nTIEILSL' 1 1 7 l 1 I i 72 I g 1 73 i 79 a3 .2 g T; g- 7 5 I I 44 52 I iPATENEEDMAR 14 I972 3, 4 943 SHEET 2 0F 6 PATENTEBMAR 14 I872 SHEET 3 BF6 FIG.6.

PAIENIEMAR '14 I972 3, 648,943

SHEET u [If 6 CAMERA CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION Thisapplication is a division of my copending application Ser. No. 458,593,filed May 25, I965, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 3,416,425 on Dec. 17,I968.

The present invention relates to cameras, and more particularly tocameras intended to be used with film cartridges or cassettes.

Film cartridges are available on the market today and avoid the loadingproblems commonly encountered with roll film cameras An example of sucha film cartridge is found in U.S. Design Pat. No. l95,746, issued July23, I963, to Hubert Nerwin. A roll film for the cartridge of the Nerwindesign patent is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,086,862 issued Apr. 23,1963, to Eagle et al. A typical cartridge construction and a typicalcamera construction for use therewith are illustrated in U. S. Pat. No.3,138,084, issued June 23, I964 to D. C. Harvey.

The principal object of this invention has been to provide an improvedcamera construction especially adapted for use with film cartridges.

Another object of the invention has been to provide such a cameraconstruction which is simple, inexpensive and reliable.

Still another object of the invention has been to provide such a camerafor use with a cartridge that is adapted to be enclosed within thehousing of the camera.

A further object of the invention has been to provide such a camera inwhich a film strip is employed having metering perforations along anedge thereof, and in which film metering is accomplished efficientlywith a minimum of parts.

In one aspect of the invention, a camera may comprise a central housingmember having a front cover rigidly attached thereto and to which atleast part of the lens and light-admitting means is attached. A backcover may include a portion that is hinged to the central housing and itmay be held closed by a quick release device. The other part of the backcover may be held onto the central housing by screw means, and it mayenclose a pocket for the reception of batteries for a flash mechanism.

In another aspect of the invention, the back of the central housing mayinclude spaced, parallel pocket means on each side of the lens, for thereception of a film cartridge having hollow, parallel spacedcompartments adapted to fit within the pockets, said compartments beingjoined by a fiat, hollow body through which the film passes as it isunwound from one spool onto the other.

In still another aspect of the invention, a winding device may beprovided directly above the pocket containing the cartridge compartmentwithin which the takeup spool is located. The winding device maycomprise a shaft journaled in a bearing in the top of the main housing.The lower end of the shaft may have a ratchet with peripheral teeth andan integral collar journaled thereon. The collar has a disk splined toit that is provided with ratchet teeth on its bottom face and isspringurged away from the other ratchet. The construction is such thatwith the back cover open, loading a film cartridge into the camera andsnapping the back cover closed causes the face ratchet disk to movetoward the peripheral ratchet and then to move away from it intoengagement with corresponding face teeth on the top of the takeup spoolof the film cartridge. An oscillatable crank may be connected to the topof the winding shaft and a spring ratchet toothed arrangement permitsunidirectional rotation of the takeup spool upon oscillating the crank,there being a spring to return the crank to its initial position aftereach forward movement of the crank.

Other and further objects, features and advantages of the invention willbecome apparent from the following description taken in connection withthe appended drawings, in which:

FIG. I is a top plan view of a camera to which the principles of theinvention have been applied;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the camera of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a rear elevational view of the camera of FIG. 1, with the rearcover removed;

FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of the camera of FIG. I, with thefront cover removed and with the shutter mechanism at rest;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4, showing the shutter mechanism in itsposition when an exposure is actually made;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 4, showing the shutter mechanism afterthe exposure has been completed but before the shutter returns to itsrest position;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary view of the front shutter, showing the doubleexposure prevention tab thereon;

FIG. 8 is a view taken substantially along line 8-8 of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a sectional plan view taken substantially along line 9-9 ofFIG. 2;

FIG. 10 is a sectional elevational view taken substantially along line10-10 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the film metering plate;

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of the front shutter;

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of the rear shutter with the exposure knobattached;

FIG. 14 is an enlarged plan view of the film metering plate showing itsoperative relationship to the film winding mechanism;

FIG. 15 is a sectional view taken substantially along line 15l5 ofFIG.14;

FIG. 16 is a sectional view taken substantially along line 16-16 of FIG.15; and

FIG. 17 is a sectional view taken substantially along line 17-17 ofFIG.16.

Referring now to the drawings, and particularly to FIGS. 1 to 17, theprinciples of the invention are shown as applied to a camera including acentral body portion 30 to which a front cover 31 is rigidly attached byscrews 32 (FIG. 9), only one being shown, threaded into a boss 33integral with the inside of the front cover 31. Front cover 31 supportsa conical, lightadmitting member 34 and a lens 35, all as is well knownin the art.

The main body 30 may include walls 36, 37, 38 and 39 (FIG. 9) which formvarious compartments for housing certain elements of the cameramechanism. The walls 37 and 38 provide compartments 40 and 41 whichreceive the spaced ends 42, 43 of a film cartridge 44. The end 42contains the unexposed rolled film, and the end 43 contains the takeupspool 45 (FIG. 15). The ends 42, 43 are joined by a flat, hollow portion46 through which the film 47 is threaded from the unexposed reel to thetakeup spool 45, past a film metering opening 48 in a front wall 49 ofthe fiat portion 46 of the cartridge.

Referring to FIG. 10, the front wall 49 of the fiat portion 46 ofcartridge 44 includes a window 50 that is aligned with a wall 51 of themain body 30, forming a tubular compartment 52, at the forward end ofwhich a lens 53 is mounted that cooperates with lens 35 to form theimage on the film 47 when it is framed within window 50.

A back cover 54 may have fastened to its inside surface a pair of spacedbrackets 55 by means of screws 56 (only one being shown in FIG. 9), thebrackets being pivoted on a shaft 57 mounted within the main body 30.The opposite end of the back cover 54 may support a latch 58 that isfixed to the inside of cover 54 by a screw 59. Latch 58 is adapted tocooperate with a resilient rod 60 mounted between four posts 61 (FIG.4). A pushbutton 62 may extend through the side wall of the main housing30. It may include legs 63 that engage rod 60 in a manner such that upondepressing button 62,'rod 60 is displaced from latch 58, permitting thehinged opening of the back cover 54 so as to replace the cartridge 44when all of the film therein has been exposed.

Referring to FIG. 15, the top wall of the main housing 30 may include abearing 64 in which a shaft 65 is journaled. The upper end of shaft 65is provided with a knurl 66 and a noncircular end 67 that mate withcorresponding portions within a socket 68 of a winding lever 69 that islocated above the top of main housing 30. Shaft 65 has a lever 70extending radially therefrom, the outer end of which is connected to oneend of a spring 71 and the opposite end of which spring is anchored inthe interior of housing 30. The lever 69 is used manually to turn shaft65 counterclockwise a predetermined distance (FIG. 14), and spring 71returns the shaft 65 by turning it in a clockwise direction.

The lower end of shaft 65 journals a peripherally toothed ratchet 72. Itincludes a counterboard portion 73 on the bottom face of which ratchetteeth 74 are formed (FIG. 16). A resilient pawl device 75 may be fixedto shaft 65 and it may include spring teeth 76 that cooperate with faceratchet teeth 74. The arrangement is such that an amount of backlashequal to the space of one of the peripheral teeth of ratchet 72 isprovided between teeth 76 and 74 as represented by the spaces 77 (FIG.16).

The ratchet 72 also includes a collar portion 78 having a spline 79thereon for receiving a mating spline on a disk 80. A spring 81 betweenratchet 72 and disk 80 urges the latter downwardly against an abutment82 fixed to the lower end of shaft 65. The lower face of disk 80 isprovided with face ratchet teeth 83 that are adapted to coact withmating teeth 84 on the upper end of the takeup spool 45. Theconstruction and arrangement of the parts are such that with the backcover open, a film cartridge can be loaded, and as the back cover 54 isclosed, the teeth 83 snap into contact with teeth 84 so that uponturning of lever 69 counterclockwise through 90 against the action ofspring 71, the cooperation between teeth 76 and 74 causes the turning oftakeup spool 45 to draw the film 47 from the loaded spool,

In order properly to frame the film in the window 50 of the cartridge,suitable film metering mechanism is provided. It may comprise a plate 85including an upper portion 86 that has an elongated slot 87 thereinthrough which shaft 65 extends, thus permitting oscillatable movementabout the axis of shaft 65 as well as radical reciprocable movement byvirtue of the slot 87. Plate 85 includes a portion 88 at right angles toportion 86 and oppositely extending finger portions 89 and 90 (FIG. 14).

A spring 91 anchored within housing 30 acts to turn plate member 85 in acounterclockwise direction about the axis of shaft 65 and to a positionas shown in dot and dash lines (FIG. 14) where the upper end 92 offinger 89 contacts the edge of the film 47. Film 47 is provided withslots 93 spaced along its edge in line with the finger portion 92.Accordingly, as the lever 69 is repeatedly oscillated, the film movesfrom right to left (FIG. 14) until a slot passes over end 92, whereuponspring 91 causes end 92 to pass into the slot. Continued operation oflever 69 moves film 47, and with it plate 85 through the engagement ofend 92 of finger 89 in slot 93.

The upper portion 86 of plate 85 includes a pawl 94 (FIG. which, whenplate 85 has been moved an amount properly to frame the next succeedingportion of film 47 in window 50, engages a tooth of the ratchet 72,thereby preventing further action of lever 69 and consequently furthermovement of film 47.

In connection with the operation of disk 80 which acts as a takeup spooldrive member, it should be clear that it slides along spline 79 oncollar portion 78 and normally lies adjacent abutment 82 at the bottomof the spline where it has been driven by spring 81. As can be seen inFIGS. 3 and 15 the shape of teeth 83 is such that they protrudedownwardly their maximum amount at radially innermost portion of thedisk and their minimum amount at radially outermost portion. Theirsurface these portions is curved to facilitate insertion and removal ofcartridge 44 from the camera. Thus as the cartridge is loaded into thecamera its end 43 engages the curved surfaces of one or more teeth 83 ondisk driving the disk upwardly along spline 79 against the force ofspring 81. As soon as the cartridge end passes teeth 83 the springdrives disk 80 downwardly again forcing the teeth into engagement withteeth 84 of the takeup spool 45. The bottom of abutment 82 and shaft atno time interferes with insertion or removal from the camera. I

Wh1le the mventlon has been described in connection with specificembodiments thereof and in specific uses, various modifications thereofwill occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the spiritand scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a camera adapted to accommodate a film takeup spool and having ahousing and a winding mechanism including axially stationary filmwinding shaft means rotatably journaled in a bearing in an upper portionof the housing, the improvement wherein the shaft means includes a shaftand a ratchet member coaxially mounted about said shaft adjacent itslower end so as to rotate therewith, and the ratchet member includes aplurality of peripheral teeth adjacent its upper end and a splinedportion adjacent its lower end, a takeup spool driving member coaxiallysplined on the splined portion of the ratchet member so as to rotatetherewith and be axially slideable therealong, compression spring meanssurrounding the shaft means for urging the spool driving member intodriving engagement with the takeup spool when the spool is accommodatedin the camera, an abutment mounted adjacent the lower end of the shaftmeans for preventing the spool driving member from being pushed off theend of the ratchet member by the spring means when no takeup spool isaccommodated in the camera, there being a reciprocable pawl mounted inthe housing for cooperation with the ratchet members peripheral teeth tohalt rotation of the member and the spool driving member when the camerais ready to take the next exposure.

2. In a camera adapted to accommodate a film takeup spool and having ahousing and a film winding mechanism including axially stationary filmwinding shaft means rotatably journaled in a bearing in an upper portionof the housing, the improvement comprising: a ratchet member coaxiallymounted about the shaft within the housing and having a splined portionadjacent its lower end, a takeup spool driving member matingly splinedonto the splined portion of the ratchet member so as to rotate therewithand be axially slideable therealong, and compression spring meansmounted about the ratchet member for urging the takeup spool member intodriving engagement with the takeup spool when the spool is accommodatedin the camera.

3. The combination according to claim 2 wherein the shaft means includesa shaft, the ratchet member is rotatable about the lower end of theshaft, a resilient pawl device for rotating the ratchet and thus thespool driving member with the shaft whenever the shaft is rotated in apredetermined direction but allowing slippage between the shaft and theratchet member whenever the shaft is rotated in the opposite direction.

4. The combination according to claim 3 wherein the ratchet member has aplurality of peripheral teeth formed above and radially outwardly of itssplined portion and there is a reciprocable pawl mounted in the camerahousing for engaging said teeth to halt rotation of the shaft, ratchetmember and spool driving member whenever sufficient film has beenadvanced in the camera to frame an unexposed portion for taking the nextpicture.

lOl027 0342

1. In a camera adapted to accommodate a film takeup spool and having ahousing and a winding mechanism including axially stationary filmwinding shaft means rotatably journaled in a bearing in an upper portionof the housing, the improvement wherein the shaft means includes a shaftand a ratchet member coaxially mounted about said shaft adjacent itslower end so as to rotate therewith, and the ratchet member includes aplurality of peripheral teeth adjacent its upper end and a splinedportion adjacent its lower end, a takeup spool driving member coaxiallysplined on the splined portion of the ratchet member so as to rotatetherewith and be axially slideable therealong, compression spring meanssurrounding the shaft means for urging the spool driving member intodriving engagement with the takeup spool when the spool is accommodatedin the camera, an abutment mounted adjacent the lower end of the shaftmeans for preventing the spool driving member from being pushed off theend of the ratchet member by the spring means when no takeup spool isaccommodated in the camera, there being a reciprocable pawl mounted inthe housing for cooperation with the ratchet member''s peripheral teethto halt rotation of the member and the spool driving member when thecamera is ready to take the next exposure.
 2. In a camera adapted toaccommodate a film takeup spool and having a housing and a film windingmechanism including axially stationary film winding shaft meansrotatably journaled in a bearing in an upper portion of the housing, theimprovement comprising: a ratchet member coaxially mounted about theshaft within the housing and having a splined portion adjacent its lowerend, a takeup spool driving member matingly splined onto the splinedportion of the ratchet member so as to rotate therewith and be axiallyslideable therealong, and compression spring means mounted about theratchet member for urging the takeup spool member into drivingengagement with the takeup spool when the spool is accommodated in thecamera.
 3. The combination according to claim 2 wherein the shaft meansincludes a shaft, the ratchet member is rotatable about the lower end ofthe shaft, a resilient pawl device for rotating the ratchet and thus thespool driving member with the shaft whenever the shaft is rotated in apredetermined direction but allowing slippage between the shaft and theratchet member whenever the shaft is rotated in the opposite direction.4. The combination accordIng to claim 3 wherein the ratchet member has aplurality of peripheral teeth formed above and radially outwardly of itssplined portion and there is a reciprocable pawl mounted in the camerahousing for engaging said teeth to halt rotation of the shaft, ratchetmember and spool driving member whenever sufficient film has beenadvanced in the camera to frame an unexposed portion for taking the nextpicture.